Adani made it to the top as the solar project developer in terms of cumulative installation in 2018, although ACME Solar developed the largest solar installation in the same year, according to a Mercom Capital Group report. Adani Renewables reached a generation capacity of 1,970 mw as of 2018 and plans to generate 10,000 mw of solar power by 2022.

In the calendar year 2018, India was the third-largest solar market in the world behind China and the United States. India’s solar installations reached 8.3 gigawatt including large-scale and rooftop solar capacity. The country’s cumulative solar capacity has reached 28 gw as of December 2018. The report finds that the top 10 large-scale developers accounted for 60% of the market share in 2018, with all others making up the remaining 40%.

There has been a huge change in the Indian solar industry over the last year following the imposition of the safeguard duty, which brought about a change in suppliers. The Indian solar market also underwent a consolidation, said Raj Prabhu, CEO of Mercom Capital Group. The imposition of the safeguard duty in 2018 has helped domestic module manufacturers capture a larger share of the market compared to 2017.

There are approximately 80 large-scale project developers with a pipeline of 5 mw. ACME Solar had the largest project in the pipeline at the end of 2018, closely followed by SB Energy (SoftBank) and Azure Power.

In 2018, the top 10 rooftop solar installers accounted for just 30% of installed capacity in India, reflecting the fragmented nature of the sector. Other rooftop developers constituted 70% of installations. According to Mercom Solar update, rooftop installations grew by a whopping 66% year-on-year with cumulative installations totaling nearly 3.3 gw at the end of 2018. Rooftop solar installations for 2018 amounted to 1.7 gw.